19th-Century Rockets: Congreve and Hale
47. The Bombardment of Algiers, 1816. Congreve rockets in use.
The rebirth of European interest in military rocketry can be traced to the English conquest of India during the late 18th century. William Congreve, an artillery expert, was intrigued by the tactical success of the Indian war rockets. He began a research program in 1804 that led to the development of a metal-cased, stick-guided artillery rocket that could be fired in barrages against enemy troops. The rocket carried incendiary or explosive warheads.
The 14.5-kilogram (32-pound) Congreve war rocket models on display show the early side-mounting of the stabilizing guide stick and the later (1815) design in which the guide stick was center-mounted to give greater accuracy. Congreve rockets played an important role during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.
The experimental 45.4-kilogram (100-pound) Congreve incendiary rocket was developed as a siege weapon for use against fortresses or entrenched enemy positions, although it is not known to have been used in combat. The 6.7-meter (22-foot) guide stick screwed together and fitted to the side of the projectile before firing. Like the smaller Congreve rockets, it could be launched from a frame or earthen embankment.
William Hale was an English engineer and ordnance expert who made cumbersome guide sticks obsolete with the introduction of spin stabilization to rocketry. Hale’s first design of a stickless, or rotary, rocket was patented in 1844. Although the 5.4-kilogram (12-pound) rocket was used during the Mexican War (1846-1847) and the Civil War, Hale subsequently refined it because the rocket had a tendency to oscillate in the air following exhaustion of the propellant.
Hale’s intermediate pattern rocket of 1862—on display—was never produced, giving way in 1865 to a rocket weighing 11 kilograms (24 pounds) with a maximum range of 2012 meters (2200 yards) when fired from a 4.6-meter (15-foot) elevation. The propellant burned for 5 to 10 seconds, producing an estimated maximum thrust of 136 kilograms (300 pounds).
The American version of the Hale rocket has two sets of gas nozzles. The major aperture on the base of the case allowed the propellant gases to escape. The smaller holes above the rocket’s midpoint are angled; the exhaust gases spin the projectile, stabilizing it during flight. Hale rocket designs were employed by both sides during the Civil War.
